The strays
Subtitle: a novel
By: Emily Bitto
Edition: First U.S. hardcover edition.
Publisher: Twelve
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9781455537723
Subjects: Fiction; Children of artists; Ambition; Communal living; Dysfunctional families
Description: On her first day at a new school, Lily befriends one of the daughters of infamous avant-garde painter Evan Trentham. He and his wife are trying to escape the stifling conservatism of 1930s Australia by inviting other like-minded artists to live and work at their family home. Lily becomes infatuated with this wild, makeshift family and longs to truly be part of it. As the years pass, Lily observes the way the lives of these artists come to reflect the same themes as their art: Faustian bargains and spectacular falls from grace. Yet it's not Evan, but his daughters, who pay the price for his radicalism. An engrossing story of ambitions, sacrifice, and compromised loyalties. --
Notes: "Originally published in Australia by Affirm Press in 2014"--Title page verso.

Stella Prize, 2015